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All of us at Feministing have been following the heated discussion happening in the feminist blogosphere right now about issues of race and privilege. (We’re not going to summarize, but here is some suggestedreading. ) We want to say up front that Brownfemipower’s voice will be greatly missed. We also want to say that, yes, there is a history of white women (and white feminists) appropriating the ideas of women of color. It’s a problem that persists today. That doesn’t make Amanda a plagiarist, and we don’t believe she is.
And that’s all were gonna say about the specifics. Not only because we don’t want this to get too blog-insidery, but also because many brave bloggers have forayed into this territory before, and the discussion doesn’t seem to be getting any more constructive. Here, we hope to have a larger conversation about feminism and privilege and community. And how Feministing, as a website and as individual bloggers, can find ways to contribute to a blogosphere that is vibrant, accountable, forward-thinking and just.

We are all aware of the privilege we enjoy because of our large base of readers, and we’re aware of ways in which we could be better bloggers. Being part of a feminist online (and offline) community is a big part of our mission, and we don’t want to neglect the huge number of smaller feminist sites that make up that community. We’ve heard from some bloggers (particularly those who write a lot about race) that sometimes the traffic they get from our site fundamentally changes their commenting community, so they’d rather if we didnâ€™t link. We’re cool with that. But if you run a smaller blog — particularly if you’re a woman of color — and you think we do a shitty job at link-loving sites like yours, please let us know. We are making a concerted effort to be better about this.
We’re actually going to take this opportunity to pledge to do better. With every post we write, we’ll do a search to see if another feminist blogger has covered the issue. And when it comes to linking, we will privilege blogs with smaller audiences and those with greater expertise than our own in the given subject area. We’ll also continue to make alliances with grassroots and other organizations who are doing antiracist, and community-building work on the ground, and highlight the work of those people here on the site, with posts like our Voices Ofâ€¦ series. We also hope that with our soon-to-be-launched community site, we can continue to do good work — and maybe even great work — with the direction of our readers, allies, and friends. So if there are specific things you think we can do better, we want to hear about it.
Given the history of Western feminism and its often problematic relationship with the feminisms of women of color, working class and queer women, it is easy to reproduce those same inequities, online and off. This history in many ways has set the parameters of the debate around the way difference functions within the feminist movement, and it is a difficult history to move past. However, in order to move forward — to lead with race, to lead with gender, to create feminisms that work for all of us — we need to look hard at where we stand and how it relates to those around us (and in our case, to those who read us or are influenced by us). None of us is perfect, we all have our blind-spots and we have to keep each other accountable. To move forward is painful, awkward, often uncomfortable, but it is the only way to create the community we want here at Feministing. It is because we value this kind of community that our editorial make-up will continue to be and work towards being diverse, defined in the broadest way possible. We’ve got writers who grew up immersed in Evangelical Christianity, Buddhism, and Catholicism, writers who land on various places on the sex and gender spectrum, writers from contrasting class and cultural strata, and writers from a range of ethnic backgrounds. We don’t always agree, but we are committed to the necessary beauty of that complex diversity.
Feminist blogging is a labor of love. Most of us do it for no money, with jobs and school and lives and kids vying for our attention — but we do it anyway. So we write this with nothing but love for the feminist blogosphere and all the hard work that so many put into it. Even though we don’t always agree.
~Ann, Celina, Courtney, Jen, Jessica, Miriam, Samhita, Vanessa*Note: We ask that the comments section to this post contain no attacks on Brownfemipower or Amanda. Please use this space to have a larger conversation. (There are many other forums in the feminist blogosphere where the events have been rehashed.) We’d like the conversation to be a forward-thinking and constructive, or as constructive as possible. We are going to take a heavy hand in moderating this post in order to ensure that this kind of safe, and progressive, space happens.

Dashcam footage released last week shows a Georgia police officer telling a passenger during a traffic stop that cops “only shoot black people.” The video isn’t just a bad joke caught on camera. It reveals layers of historical and present police violence against black people – often in the name of making white women feel safe.

The dashcam footage, which surfaced last week, shows Lt. Greg Abbott standing outside of a vehicle during a DUI traffic stop in July 2016. After the passenger – a white woman – expresses fear that she would be shot for moving her hands during the stop, Abbott responds: “But you’re not black. Remember, we only shoot ...

Dashcam footage released last week shows a Georgia police officer telling a passenger during a traffic stop that cops “only shoot black people.” The video isn’t just a bad joke caught on camera. ...

Earlier this summer, Jane The Virgin star Gina Rodriguez teamed up with Clinique for their “Difference Maker” campaign. In the promotional video for the campaign, Gina shares her success story, hoping to inspire other young, disadvantaged kids like herself. A colored pencil, a yellow highlighter, a stack of books, and other school supplies flash across the screen and an empty notebook suggests that our lives, like Gina’s, are bursting with potential; it is simply up to us to direct them.In the video, Gina differentiates between her passion, which is acting, and her life’s purpose, which is, “to free someone from those invisible shackles. Because they are invisible. They are an illusion.”

Gina tells us she comes from a “predominantly Latino, gang infested ...

Earlier this summer, Jane The Virgin star Gina Rodriguez teamed up with Clinique for their “Difference Maker” campaign. In the promotional video for the campaign, Gina shares her success story, hoping to inspire other young, disadvantaged kids ...

Ed. note: This post was originally published on the Community site. Posts published on the Community site do not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

In a presidential election year, popular culture representations of politicians – real and fictional – reach new heights of significance as viewers and commentators assign them meaning. The March 2016 release of season four of the Netflix original series House of Cards was no exception.

The political drama focuses on the relationship between President Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and First Lady Claire Underwood (Robin Wright), and reveals a power-hungry and sexually charged Washington, D.C. Even if you have not seen the show, you may have ...

Ed. note: This post was originally published on the Community site. Posts published on the Community site do not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

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All Feministing posts are written by the site’s collective of regular columnists and editors. Though we don’t currently accept guest submissions, we have an open platform Community site to which anyone can contribute. We often promote our favorite Community posts on the main site. And Community bloggers who consistently impress us may to be invited to become regular Feministing columnists..